xii, 232 pages : 23 cm

"The paperback edition of a very successful and in some ways remarkable book, first published in 1973. Gerald Brenan is well known for his 'expository' works on Spanish history and literature, and now in his eighties he has returned to an early interest in the Spanish mystics to produce an absorbing study of St John of the Cross, one of the foremost of Catholic mystics and poets. The book is perhaps the first in English to combine an objective - but sensitive and lively - account of St John's life with a fresh translation (by Mr Brenan's associate Lynda Nicholson) of his verse"--Publisher

Includes the poems of Juan de la Cruz in the original Spanish with parallel English translations

Includes bibliographical references (pages 224-227)

List of illustrations; Preface; Part I. The Life: 1. Childhood and youth; 2. The Carmelite reform; 3. Prison; 4. El Calvario and Baeza; 5. Granada; 6. Segovia; 7. Disgrace and death; 8. The sequel; Appendices; Part II. The Works: 9. An examination of the poetry; 10. The prose works; Part III. The Poems: 'En una noche oscura': 'The Dark Night'; 'Adónte te escondiste': 'The Spiritual Canticle' (Sanlúcar version); 'Oh, llama de amor viva': 'The Living Flame of Love'; 'Quebien se; yo la fonte': 'Although by night'; 'Un pastorcico, solo, está penado': 'A Pastoral'; 'Vivo sin vivir en mi;': 'Dying because I do not die'; 'Tras de un amoroso lance': 'A quarry of Love'; 'Entrème donde no supe': 'Verses written on an Ecstasy'; 'Encima de las corrientes': 'Ballad on the Psalm 'By the Waters of Babylon''; 'En el pincipio moraba': 'Ballad on Trinity and the Incarnation'; 'Adónte te escondiste': 'The Spiritual Canticle (Jae;n version); notes to the poems; A select bibliography; Principal events in the life of St. John; Index

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